Ellen Price Elder

Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano

Dr. Ellen Price Elder is Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she is the coordinator of the piano accompanying program, teaches class piano, and collaborates with faculty and guest artists.  In addition to her college teaching, Dr. Elder serves as founder and director of the Southern Miss Piano Institute and the Southern Miss Piano Institute Solo Piano and Piano Ensemble Camp.

She holds the D.M.A. in Piano Pedagogy and Performance and the M.M. in Piano Performance and Literature from the University of Michigan.  She received her B.M. in Piano Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi.  She has served on the faculties of the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Eastern Michigan University, Schoolcraft College, and William Carey University.  She has taught on the summer piano faculties of the University of Michigan All-State Program at Interlochen and the University of Michigan Summer Arts Institute.

Dr. Elder is the winner of many competitions and awards, both for solo performance and teaching.  She was the first place winner of the Ann Arbor Society for the Musical Arts Competition and the Lansing Matinee Musicale Competition, and second place winner of the Memphis International Beethoven Sonata Competition.  She was the recipient of the MTNA Star Award, as well as the Joanne A. Smith Piano Pedagogy Award for class piano teaching (for two consecutive years). 

In 2009, she was selected to receive the HEADWAE Award (Higher Education Appreciation Day/Working for Academic Excellence) established in 1988 by the Mississippi Legislature to honor faculty who have contributed to the promotion of academic excellence at each of the state's public and private institutions. 

She has appeared as soloist with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, the Mississippi Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and the Hattiesburg City Band.  She has also performed with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra, as winner of the concerto competitions at those institutions.

She is an active member of the local and state music teacher organizations, and currently serves as Immediate Past President and Vice President for Membership/Web Management of the Hattiesburg Music Teachers League, as well as President-Elect of the Mississippi Music Teachers Association.